Caramelized Sugar
by The-Other-Ghostwriter
Summary: He has her for His very own. She has everything she could ever want. Too bad love was never in the equation.  Hibbles


_I dunno; I read the more recent pages of Snafu's "Grim Tales" and got inspiration for this. The title is a reference to what you get when you burn sugar. Enjoy._

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><p>The air in the darkened bedroom smelled heavily like a strange cocktail of musk and burned sugar; a smell He used to savor and relish in, but now it served as a bitter reminder of years past. Of a sweeter time; literally.<p>

Now? Now, it was bittersweet, emphasis on 'bitter'.

He pushed into her one last time and heaved a heavy sigh of reluctant pleasure, a light steam escaping His lips. Beneath Him, His vision of beauty leaned her head back invitingly, and He obliged, kissing and biting at the tender flesh possessively, sinking His fangs into the same two puncture wounds He had inflicted years ago, and completing their act of lustmaking.

As the high of their pleasure ebbed away, Him withdrew His teeth and drew away from His young mate beneath Him, turning instead to His side of the bed. His mate sat up, a put-out pout making her face almost unbearably, mockingly cute.

"What has your thong in a twist NOW, Him?" she simpered, sliding to the end of the bed and picking up a sheer sky-blue bedroom robe to slide her arms into the sleeves. "You're acting like sex is a CHORE these days..."

"You know perfectly well, **my DEAR**, what 'has my thong in a twist', as you so elegantly put it." The demon glared off into an empty space on the wall, where the Gotheque motif actually began to sizzle at the sheer amount of loathing He put into it. On the other side of the bed, His mate let out a soft, simpering giggle that would give an outside viewer the feeling of being pelted with razor-sharp icicles.

"Are you STILL on about that, Him?" she laughed, tossing her long hair over her shoulder and catching His green eyes with her own blue ones, ruthlessly pinning Him in place with her gaze. "Ten years, and you STILL expect me to tell you I love you?" She laughed again, tying the delicate strings of her robe together.

"You act as though it would actually hurt something," Him growled back, His claws making a grounding sound as He clenched them tighter than usual. He scowled when she actually snorted.

"Still with this song and dance..." she sighed dramatically as she sat down at her vanity and picked up a hairbrush made of human bone and ran it through her honey-colored locks. "You know that I, like you, do not lie. I cant say what I dont mean, Him darling." She flicked at His reflection in her mirror, the corners of her mouth curling up into a cruel smile. "To be honest...I'm surprised you WANT me to say it."

Him shot her a glare and picked up His own robe - red, naturally - and slipped it on. "One would naturally assume after ten years of Me giving you **everything** a woman could ever want..." He began, only to be rudely cut off with a loud 'tch' sound from His mate.

"Love never came into the equation, Him!" she said, firmly setting the bone brush down on the vanity and turning to face Him. "This was a match of necessity. A mutual agreement. LOVE was never in the contract I signed in my own blood, so LOVE is not needed." Her hard stare softened, and a soft smile slowly spread across her face as she ran a finger over the top of her chest suggestively. "Do you mean to tell me that YOU do not have everything YOU could have wanted?"

Him's expression went emotionless, and His shoulders stiffened. "...No, **Bubbles**," He replied, His voice tight. "...I dont."

_Where had He gone wrong?_

It all began ten years ago, on Bubbles' 18th birthday; on all three of the Powerpuff Girls' birthdays, in fact. Him had been watching His darling Bubbles all the closer since she began puberty. The adorable little 'Puff had quickly gone from a sweet, innocent little tool to a gorgeous goddess of a young woman right before His eyes.

And for the first time in millennia...Him felt desire. Physical desire. The sheer NEED for Him to completely have and own someone else entirely.

So one day, He stopped playing games, and started playing for keeps.

He appeared to Bubbles one night when she was 16, when the girl was alone at home, not feeling well. Him had actually sent her a harmless but effective illness so He could catch her alone while her sisters and father went out to give her some peace, and wasted no time in telling her what He wanted.

The fear in her wide, innocent eyes was so delicious back then...

He told her that He planned to have her the day she turned 18, the day she would become a woman. If she did not comply with His whims, then He would stop playing with her sisters and start being serious. To emphasize the fact that He was not joking, He made her watch as with a simple flicker of His whim, every person in a building in Townsville have simultaneous heart attacks that killed them instantly.

So, to save her friends, her sisters, her father, and everyone in the city she loved so much, Bubbles sobbingly agreed to marry Him.

For two years, Bubbles kept her terrible deal with the Devil to herself, silently agonizing over it until her 18th birthday, when Him stole her away before the sun rose, had the simple wedding performed in His domain, and had Bubbles sign the marriage contract in her own blood, and just moments later had her in His bed.

Blossom and Buttercup didnt take to the news lightly in the least; on many different occasions over the course of just a few months, they stormed into His lair to demand their sister's release, and after He had soundly had them beaten (but still alive) time after time, He finally declared the two remaining 'Puffs' interference too cumbersome and relocated Himself and Bubbles into Hell.

Things ran so smoothly, and everything was perfect...or so it seemed.

But slowly and surely, things that He loved about Bubbles changed.

Though her beauty never faded in the least, her healthy, sunkissed skin turned the color of bone; her blue eyes, the color of the sky on the brightest day, faded into the color of the sky just before the sun vanished completely; her hair, which was once the color of the purest of sunshine's rays, darkened into the color of caramelized sugar.

Her innocence quickly vanished from her new life of living in sin. Her kindness faded into cruelty and her virtue became almost insatiable lust. The girl who once spent less than ten minutes on her naturally beautiful appearance turned into a vain woman who would now spend hours in front of her vanity mirror, dolling her face up with pointless makeup (stolen from Him), brushing her hair, or demanding new, more revealing clothing.

Her delicate hands that had once been used to create art and tend to the injured became wicked claw-tipped instruments of pain and remorseless torture.

The girl who once clung to Him like a lifeline with pleas of care and comfort from the fright of Hell now clung to Him like a cheap whore who whispered cruel sins and mocking observations at His craving for the one thing she had lost and would never be His.

Love.

Him stiffened when He felt cold hands curl around His chest, and felt Bubbles' cold breath on the back of His neck. "You're not happy," she said, mirroring His statement, and sounding a tad peeved. "You took me from my family, forced me to marry You, and mercilessly took my innocence." Her sharp nails dug into His chest, drawing black, boiling blood. "I gave You my body. I bore Your seven children that you sent as infants to Earth and will soon grow up to commit the most terrible of sins to increase Your power. And in return, You spared the lives of my friends and family, You gave me immortality, and You give me everything I want at a moment's notice."

She paused to kiss his neck with mock-tenderness.

"And after everything, You want my LOVE?" That frigid laughter rang in His ears, almost making Him shiver. "The Devil's in the details, and You should have put it in writing, my dear."

That said, she drew away and skipped to her vanity to begin brushing her already-perfect hair.

Him turned to look at her, feeling an emptiness in His black heart.

He had the perfect Dark Wife, seven perfect children created of Sin, and perfect control of His domain once more.

Unfortunately, love wasnt a factor in that equation.


End file.
